YHS seniors help run local racing event

Wednesday

Jul 10, 2013 at 11:15 AMJul 10, 2013 at 12:18 PM

Bill Choy

Dakota Cash and David Neill are discovering the hard work and dedication it takes to run a race this summer.The incoming Yreka High School seniors are co-race directors along with race director Brady Silvich for the three-part Siskiyou Family YMCA Racing Series at Lower Greenhorn Park.The first race was held last week, with the final race set for next week.Cash and Neill are both on the cross country team at Yreka High and said that this was a perfect senior project for them to take part in.“I wanted to do something involving running,” Neill said. He said that when Silvich approached him about doing this as a senior project he jumped at the chance.Both Cash and Neill were quite busy during the second race on Tuesday as they helped sign-in racers, made sure things were running smoothly and gave instructions to participants before the start of the event.“So much work goes into putting on a race,” Cash said.It helps that both have run the course numerous times when they have taken part in cross country meets at Greenhorn.Both said that they definitely have a new found respect and perspective now that they are helping put on a race and not just running in one.Silvich, an assistant coach with the Miner cross country team and program director at the YMCA, said that this was the first time students have helped run the race as part of senior projects at Yreka High. He hopes more students will continue to assist in the coming years.This senior project is quite hands-on, Silvich said, with the two teens playing a major role in managing the racing series. This includes helping market the event, to setting up on race day, making sure they have enough volunteers, and all the little things it takes to make an event like this tick.Silvich said that Cash and Neill have done “a fantastic job. It’s been nice that they understand the process since they have been to so many races.”Both Neill and Cash said that they are grateful for the opportunity to take part in a senior project like this involving something they are both passionate about. They added that it’s certainly nice to get their senior project done early and have it completed before classes begin.